time to replace brakes?
These are Dexter self-adjust that I have dragged 15,500 miles. At zero miles (i.e., new) the pads are 0.18 inch (9/32) and after 15,500 they are 0.08 inch (1/8). So I am figuring that the pads are l...
Forum Discussion
Timeking wrote:
Tired of worrying. Ordered new nev-r-adjust brakes. there was something ground into one of the pads that cut grooves in the hub. Will have the hub turned or buy a new hub (btw ALL "new" hubs are out of round, as in ALL have to be turned).
Out of round hubs, yeh. A heads up, when the drums come back from the machine shop, ideally you check the drum shoe surface for total runout with a dial indicator. I can attest to the fact, the drum shoe surface (diameter) has to run within 0.015" total indicator reading (TIR) with the hub bearing bores. Ideally they are down in the 0.005" or 0.010" TIR range. Being at the edge of the Dexter spec of 0.015" is on the ragged edge. You will have issues with the brakes over-adjusting and getting hot if the drum runout is much over 0.015" TIR. Been there and proved that. Trailer tolerances are way different than auto tolerances.
A good machine shop can handle 0.005" TIR and less without issue. But, some auto parts places will not guarantee much of anything. I gave up around here trying to get the local auto parts store to turn brake rotors or drums. After getting them back worse than when I gave them to them, I gave up and just bought new brake drums & rotors. Also, make sure the magnet surface is good and cleaned up.
Good luck and let us know how this comes out.
John
